Closet shelf bracket and blank therefor



Nov. 22, 1960 L. e. PREADER CLOSET SHELF BRACKET AND BLANK THEREFOR INVENTOR. LESTER G. HQEADER Filed Dec. 10, 1956 CIFCJEJ 4 T TOR/V5 rs CLOSET SHELF BRACKET AND BLANK THEREFOR Lester G. Preader, Sunnyvale, Calif.

Filed Dec. 10, 1956, Ser. No. 627,318

4 Claims. (Cl. 29-190) The present invention relates to closet shelf hardware, and pertains more particularly to blanks, and brackets made therefrom for supporting a shelf and clothes pole in a closet. g

In the building of residences and apartment houses in the United States it is customary to provide a shelf spaced downwardly from the top of each closet therein, and also to provide a clothes pole extending lengthwise of the closet beneath the shelf for hanging clothing supported on clothes hangers therefrom.

These shelves and clothes poles are mounted in the closet at approximately eye height, so that they usually are the first thing a prospective purchaser or tenant sees when opening a closet door.

For this reason, it is desirable to have the shelf and clothes pole well finished and of good workmanship. However, it is impractical to have these parts made by a cabinet shop or mill, since it would be diflicult, and in fact almost impossible, to get such a prefabricated item into mounting position in a closet after the plastering and painting had been completed, which normally is the time when the millwork is installed. As a result, the finish carpenter usually fabricates a shelf support, and installs separate pole support brackets, which frequently consumes a substantial amount of his highly paid time.

The present invention contemplates the provision of improved closet shelf hardware.

The invention also provides an adjustable height shelf and clothes pole supporting bracket for use in closets of residences and apartment buildings. 7

A further object of the invention is to provide a sheet metal blank from which may be formed a shelf and clothes pole bracket for either end of a closet, or, by a slight change in the blank, an intermediate bracket for the center of the clothes closet.

These, and other objects and advantages of the invention, will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a set of shelf brackets made in accordance with the invention installed in a clothes closet, portions being broken away.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, elevational view of the right hand end bracket of Fig. 1 as it would appear looking in the direction of the arrows 33 of Fig. 1, portions of the shelf and clothes rail being shown.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a pair of closet shelf bracket blanks cut from a single rectangular sheet of metal, one of the blanks being for an end bracket, the other being modified for use as a center or intermediate bracket.

Briefly, the invention comprises a pair of substantially complementary blanks and 11 (Fig. 4) cut from a rectangular sheet of metal indicated by the boundary line 12 (both solid and broken lines) enclosing these two blanks in Fig. 4. The various parts of the blanks will be described "with relation to their position on the finished bracket to be made from each of the blanks.

ted States Pa o F CC i 2,960,761 Patented Nov. 22,1960

A rosette 13 of radially arranged fingers 14 is cut from each of the bracket blanks 10 and 11 for forming a pole socket 15 (Figs. 1 and 3) in the completed bracket. A plurality of equally spaced mounting tongues 17 are provided along the rear marginal portion 18 of each blank, and are ofiset from the surface of the blank from which they are cut for insertion in holes 19 (Figs. 1 and 2) provided therefor in upright support channels 20 secured to a closet rear wall 22.

A plurality of aligned shelf-supporting ears 23 are provided along an upper marginal portion 24 of each of the blanks 10 and 11, and a shelf retaining tab 25 also is provided in the form of an extension of the outer end of each upper marginal portion 24 to retain a shelf'A, mounted on the brackets, against forward displacement. The blank 10 may be bent in a manner to be described later herein to form either a right hand end bracket-27 (Fig. l) or a left hand end bracket 28 as required. The blank 11 also may be notched at 32 and bent in a manner to be described later herein to form an intermediate bracket 29.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the two blanks 10 and 11 are similar to each other in outline, and are formed by severing a rectangular sheet metal member 12 along the reversely curved diagonal line 30.

The only difference between the blanks 10 and 11 is the provision of the pole receiving notch 32 in the intermediate bracket blank 11. Such a notch may be formed in the blank 10 by cutting along the two parallel broken lines 33 and 34 in Fig. 4. Since the blanks 10 and 11 are otherwise identical, only the blank 10 will be described in detail.

The bracket support tongues 17 are partially severed from the marginal rear portion 18 of the blank 10 by an inverted, U-shaped slit 17a, the upper end of each tongue 17 remaining connected to the blank. The tongues 17 are offset at 36 (Fig. 2) adjacent their attached upper ends as shown in Fig. 2 so as to project rearwardly from the bracket to be formed from the blank when the rear marginal portion 18 is bent, either one way to form the rear bracket flange 18a of a right hand end bracket 27, or center bracket 29, or the opposite way to form the rear flange 18b of a left hand end bracket 28.

The tongues 17 are of a length to permit them to be inserted in the correspondingly spaced holes 19 provided therefor in the bracket support channel members 20, one of which is provided for each bracket to be used in mounting a shelf A and clothes pole B in a closet. The channel members 20 are secured to the closet rear wall 22 by screws 35 (Fig. 1).

The aligned, shelf supporting ears 23 are partially severed, by inverted U-shaped slits 23a, from the upper, marginal portion 24 of the blank 10, and the attached lower edges of these ears are aligned lengthwise of the marginal portion 24. The upper marginal portion 24 of the blank 10 is separated from the rear marginal portion 18 at their intersection by a slit 38.

The rosette 13 is made by punching a hole 39 in each blank 10 at a desired location, and then providing a plurality of radially extending slits 40 from this hole to a circle 42 concentric with the hole 39 In forming either of the end brackets 27 or 28 from a blank 10 the rear marginal portion 18, the shelf supporting ears 23, the socket fingers 14 and the end tab 25 are all bent in the same direction at right angles to the remainder of the blank 10 as shown in Fig. 1 so as to extend outwardly away from the end wall against which the bracket is to be mounted.

' In making the intermediate or center bracket 29 from the notched blank 11, it is immaterial which way the rear flange 18, the ears 23, the marginal portion 24 andthe fingers 14 are bent, but the tongues 17 must be ofiset cent each end of the closet.

rearwardly from the rear flange 180 (Fig. l) of the completed bracket, and the shelf retaining tab 25 should extend upwardly to overlie the forward edge of a shelf A. The shelf supporting ears 23 of the center bracket 29 preferably are bent oppositely to the upper marginal portion 24 as shown in Fig. 1, andthe upper surfaces of the ears 23 and of the oppositely bent upper marginal portion 24 are bent to lie substantially coplanar with each other so as to form a support of maximum area for the shelf A resting thereon.

In mounting the brackets in a closet, a pair of channel members 20a and 20b are secured vertically, by the screws 35, to the closet rear wall 22, one closely adja- One or more of the channel members 200 also is mounted vertically between the end channel members 20a and 20b and parallel thereto.

Obviously, for an extremely long shelf, more than one of the intermediate brackets 19 may be required to prevent shelf and pole sag.

The channel members 20a, 20b and 20c are mounted With their tongue-receiving holes 19 aligned horizontally transversely of the closet. The center bracket 29 (Fig. 1) then may be mounted on the center channel member 200 by inserting its supporting tongues 17 into holes 19 at a selected height, and pressing the bracket down to the interlocked position shown in Fig. 2.

The clothes pole B should be inserted in the sockets 15. in the two end brackets 27 and 28 prior to mounting the latter in the closet, since it would not be feasible to insert the pole in these sockets after the brackets had been mounted.

The brackets may be moved slidably inwardly from the ends of the pole a sufi'icient distance to permit the pole to be swung into horizontal position in the closet and dropped into the notch 32 in the intermediate bracket 29. After the pole B has thus been positioned, the end brackets 27 and 28 may be moved slidably outwardly on the pole B to a position adjacent the closet end walls 43 and 44, their tongues 17 inserted in the holes 19 in the channel members 20a and 20b, and the brackets moved downwardly to interlock the tongues 17 with the channels as shown in Fig. 2.

The shelf A is of a length to fit between the upright upper marginal portions 24a and 24b of the end brackets 17 and 18, and is of a width to fit between the channel members 20 and the tabs 25. The shelf A is fitted into the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and in this position holds the end brackets 27 and 28 outwardly against the closet end walls 43 and 44.

Screws (not shown) may be inserted in holes 45 in the shelf edge engaging tabs 25 to retain the forward edge of the shelf against upward displacement, and also to retain the strip portion 47 of the center bracket 29 forwardly of the notch 32 therein against lateral displacement.

The invention provides a matched set of simple and attractive shelf brackets which may be easily and quickly installed in a closet to provide both shelf and clothes pole support. Since both end and center bracket blanks and 11 are identical except for the notch 32 for the center bracket, only a minimum amount of tooling is required for their production.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood however, that various changes and modifications may be made in the details thereof without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A sheet metal blank for making a closet shelf bracket adapted to be mounted flush against an end wall of a closet, said blank having its upper and rear edges straight and intersecting each other at right angles, an aligned plurality of bracket mounting tongues partially severed from a marginal portion thereof along the rear one of said intersecting edges, each of said tongues being attached at an upper portion thereof to the blank, and adapted to be offset outwardly for interlocking engagement with selected apertures in a support strip secured to a wall, a plurality of shelf supporting ears partially severed from an upper marginal portion of the blank, each of said ears being attached at a base portion thereof to the blank, and adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles to the blank, the attached bases of the ears being aligned lengthwise of the upper marginal blank portion, to support a shelf thereon with the portion of the blank above the base line of said ears held between the end of such shelf and a closet end wall, a shelf retaining tab portion extending from the forward upper end of the blank and adapted to be bent inwardly to retain a shelf supported on said ears, a slit separating the two marginal portions at their intersection, and a plurality of radially extending slits of equal length extending outwardly from the margin of a hole in a front portion of the blank to divide the metal surrounding the hole into a plurality of fingers, one pair of the slits extending parallel to the straight upper edge of the blank, whereby a pair of shear cuts made perpendicularly downwardly through the upper edge portion and extending one to each outer end of each of said one pair of slits, is adapted to remove a portion of the blank above the fingers and including the upper half of said fingers, thereby to form a pole receiving notch extending upwardly from the remaining fingers.

2. A blank for making a closet shelf bracket adapted to be mounted flush against an end wall of a closet, said blank being of sheet metal having its upper and rear edges straight and intersecting each other at right angles, a marginal portion of uniform width along the rear edge of the blank being adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles to the remainder of the blank, a plurality of bracket mounting tongues partially severed from the rear marginal portion of the blank, each of said tongues being attached at an upper portion thereof to the blank, and adapted to be offset rearwardly from the rear marginal portion for interlocking engagement with selected holes provided therefor is a support strip secured to a rear closet wall, a plurality of shelf supporting ears partially severed from the upper marginal portion of the blank, each of said ears being attached at a base portion thereof to the blank, and adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles long said base portion to support a shelf thereon, the attached bases of the ears being aligned lengthwise of the marginal portion from which the ears are partially severed, to support a shelf thereon and with the portion of the blank above the base line of said ears held between an end of such shelf and a closet end wall, and a shelf retaining tab portion extending from the forward end of the upper marginal portion and adapted to be bent inwardly to overlie the forward edge of and to retain a shelf supported on said ears.

3. A blank for making a closet shelf bracket adapted to be mounted in one form flush against an end wall of a closet, and in another form centrally of such closet, said blank being of sheet metal and having its upper and rear edges straight and intersecting each other at right angles, a marginal portion of uniform width along the rear edge of said blank being adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles to the remainder of the blank, a plurality of bracket mounting tongues partially severed from the rear marginal portion, each of said tongues being attached at an upper portion thereof to the blank, and adapted to be offset rearwardly for interlocking engagement with selected openings provided therefor in a support strip secured to a rear closet wall, a plurality of shelf supporting ears partially severed from the upper marginal portionof the blank, each of said ears being attached ata base portion thereof to the blank, and

adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles along said base portion to support a shelf thereon, the attached bases of the ears being aligned lengthwise of the marginal portion from which they are partially severed for supporting a shelf thereon, an upright slit separating the rear marginal portion from the upper marginal portion of said blank above the base line of said ears, whereby the upper marginal portion may be either left flat for holding be tween the end of a shelf and a closet end wall, or may be bent at right angles and co-planar with the ears to provide additional shelf support for making a central shelf bracket, and a plurality of fingers of equal length extending radially outwardly from the margin of a hole provided in a forward portion of the blank below the shelf supporting ears, which fingers are adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles to provide socket support for a clothes pole.

4. A blank for making a closet shelf bracket adapted to be mounted flush against an end Wall of a closet, said blank being of sheet metal with its upper and rear edges straight and intersecting each other at right angles, a marginal portion of uniform width along the rear edge of said blank being adapted to be bent inwardly at right angles to the remainder of the blank, a plurality of bracket mounting tongues partially severed from the rear marginal portion, each of said tongues being attached at an upper portion thereof to the blank, and adapted to be offset rearwardly for interlocking engagement with a support strip secured to a wall, a plurality of shelf supporting ears partially severed from the upper marginal portion of the blank, each of said ears being attached to the blank along one edge thereof and adapted to be bent inwardly to support a shelf thereon with the end of such shelf in abutting engagement with the upper marginal portion of the blank to thereby prevent inward displacement of such marginal portion, the attached edges of the ears being aligned lengthwise of the upper marginal portion from which they are partially severed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 476,520 Corscaden June 7, 1892 1,718,217 Crawford June 25, 1929 1,734,356 Welch Nov. 5, 1929 1,904,052 Katz Apr. 18, 1933 2,016,089 Hasson Oct. 1, 1935 2,213,115 Bales Aug. 27, 1940 2,450,723 Elrad Oct. 5, 1948 2,490,863 Engel Dec. 13, 1949 2,515,067 Wright July 11, 1950 2,550,699 Lamb May 1, 1951 2,602,988 Klym July 15, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 53,207 Switzerland Aug. 15, 1910 

